Month: June 2012

Following the likes of Angelina Jolie, Buzz Aldrin and Bono, three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali is the newest face of the Louis Vuitton Core Values campaign, alongside one of his grandsons. When announced at the end of last week, Vuitton CEO Yves Carcelle said, “”Muhammad Ali is the epitome of an outstanding personality – a true living legend in boxing and far beyond.” The photos were shot by Annie Leibovitz at the boxer’s Phoenix home.

Vuitton’s Core Values campaign is intended to show the brand’s classic products used in “real” life and by “real” people, instead of the seasonal bags that are featured alongside models in the company’s traditional ad campaigns. In this case, four-year-old C.J., son of Laila Ali (a champion in her own right), stands tall near his proud grandfather, who has a Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas Keepall serving as a luxury gym bag at his feet. The ads appear to be just the first element in Ali’s involvement with Louis Vuitton – check out a teaser video with him and Yasiin Bey (who you might know better as Mos Def) after the jump.

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It’s that time of year again: time for ad campaigns! Twice a year, brands roll out images meant to sell their ideas of their collections to the public, and because handbags and accessories are so critically important to the financial wellbeing of most designers, they often figure prominently in the ads. That, of course, is relevant to our interests.

Perhaps the best illustration of that phenomenon is Louis Vuitton, whose ads are often so chock full of bags, sunglasses, scarves and other accessories that it’s hard to get a solid look at the clothes. That’s not as much the case in this first image from the Louis Vuitton Fall 2012 ad campaign, but you do get a healthy dose of leopard print front and center.

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By now, all of you are probably familiar with Infinitely Kusama, the collection of ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes and accessories that Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has designed for French luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton. We showed you all of the collection’s full-sized handbags last week, but we know full well that handbag lovers, particularly LV handbag lovers, don’t just get excited about bags; there’s a whole world of accessories to go along with them, from leather wallets and agendas to scarves to sunglasses.

It’s clear by the sheer volume of pieces in Infinitely Kusama that Vuitton expects this collection to be a hit in the vein of past collaborations with Stephen Sprouse and Takashi Murakami. The company allowed her to speckle nearly every type of piece that it makes, including a really fun watch that I’d love to have in my collection. If you dig the Kusama look but aren’t sure that a full-on handbag would find a useful spot in your bag collection, a cuff or key pouch might be exactly what you need. Check out all the accessories after the jump, and if you’d like to see the Kusama x Vuitton shoes, head over to our sister site TalkShoes. Most of the collection is expected to hit stores July 10, with the bags following in October.

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